Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen has opened up on his relationship with seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher, who he admits was more like an “uncle” to him.
The Red Bull driver enjoyed many holidays with the ex-Ferrari driver and his son, current Mercedes reserve Mick Schumacher.
Verstappen’s father Jos was good friends with the F1 legend as a result of having been alongside each other at Benetton in 1994, the season Schumacher claimed his first World Championship.
Their friendship resulted in several family holidays together, which the 25-year-old still remembers fragments of.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
Verstappen still remembers how “very nice” Mick’s father was on their trips, with him having been known more as “uncle Michael” rather than a seven-time World Champion, as he didn’t understand what it meant at the time.
“I remember a few holidays,” Verstappen recalled to The Times.
“I was quite small; I didn’t know he [Michael Schumacher] was seven-times world champion. He was more like uncle Michael walking around.
“He was very nice, easygoing. Simple. People think that everything is always magic and there is a lot of glitter and glamour around, but it’s just family people together.”
Interestingly, the two-time World Champion struggled to talk to Mick on their holidays together, as a result of the pair not speaking the same language.
When they were little, Verstappen spoke Dutch whilst Mick spoke German, resulting in a language barrier.
With that no longer being an issue, Verstappen has revealed how the duo sometimes reminisce on their times together as children.
“I remember we had a holiday in Norway where we did ski, but it was minus 26 at one point so we were more like playing indoors,” Verstappen added.
READ: Christian Horner insists he will chastise Verstappen
“And we didn’t even know how to communicate at the time because he was speaking German and I was speaking Dutch.
“Then we each started our go-karting careers. At one point we saw each other on the go-karting tracks again. It was a bit hit and miss, but sometimes we’d talk about back in the day.”
Given Michael’s current condition following his skiing accident at the end of 2013, hearing stories about the racing legend are a thing to treasure, with so much being unknown over his health.